A Day In The Life Of Edward Elric!
by Grim Junior The Young Reaper
Summary: What is a day in the life of our favorite alchemist like? Let's find out! Ranging anywhere from the FMA to FMA:B, post Promised Day to pre Promised Day, OOC to as in character as humanly possible. Let's discover just how far we can push the Fullmetal Alchemist before he goes insane! Pitch a chapter idea, and I'll use it to the best of my writing ability!
1. Edwin fun!

The dimly lit room smelt terrible, to be put nicely. A horrifying mix of rotten eggs, brimstone and Ed's body odor. There were empty flasks and test tubes everywhere, along with messes of chemicals, that thankfully never combined. Ed gave out a yell of triumph as he raised a glass of strange, blue liquid.

"Aha! I've done it! According to my studies, this potion will change the personality of whoever drinks it, having strange and unexpected effects!" Ed set the container of fluid down and tore the goggles off, and removed the gloves he'd been wearing. His golden hair was a mess, the only part reminiscent of what it was that one lock of hair, his antenna. His golden eyes had bags under them and he yawned, stretching.

It had been a few years since the events of the Promised Day, and since then life without alchemy had been pretty tough. He'd nearly been killed on several occasions where he was either chasing down baddies, or getting into a brawl or even just dangerous situations where he had completely forgot his new Alchehestry,**[1]** and attempted to do his clap-alchemy, resulting in several injuries and just looking plain stupid at times.

Since he and his brother had gotten their bodies back, he quit the military and since then had been sort of relaxing. No Homunculi, no Father, no saving the world, though he may be a vigilante at times. He learned Alchehestry and kept up his appearance as the 'hero of the people', here to help when the military has their thumbs up their asses. No, seriously, that was how he put it when people asked.

Where was Alphonse? He had left, saying he was going to go learn Alchehestry in Xing. Ed had wanted to go with him, but he insisted on going alone. "And when I get back." He had said. "I'll be an even better alchemist then you brother!" Ed sighed as he went over the memory of their separation. He was missing his brother badly.

What was he doing now? He was bored, so he brewed a random potion. one might think him crazy for just making a potion without looking through it, but he knew simply from the ingredients he was using that this potion would be perfectly safe to whoever used it. From his notes, it should morph someone's personality in unexpected ways.

"Edward!" When he heard someone call his name he quickly dusted himself off as best he could, fixed his hair and ran up the steps out of his basement. There was Winry, standing in the living room of his little half kitchen, half living room kind of room. He had made his own house here in Risembool, and for some reason or another Winry had suddenly showed up with food for him at twelve o'clock. It wasn't like he couldn't cook, but for some reason that's how it worked.

"Edward Elric, you're a mess!" Winry gasped, noticing the boy's grimy jacket and messy hair, his sunken cheeks and eyes. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, and that was true. "You look horrible!"

"Good to see you too Winry." Ed replied, his voice betraying his amusement at her fussing. For some reason, Winry had taken it upon herself to act as his caretaker of sorts. 'Well I can take care of myself, thank you very much.' Ed replied to that thought in his head. He walked over to her and she handed him his lunch.

"What have you been doing, you look like a dead man!" Winry scolded him. "I don't care if you're finding a cure for the common cold or something, you still need to sleep, ya know?" Unfortunately, her words fell on deaf ears as Ed scarfed down the food and drank whatever drink she'd brought him, stopping mid gulp. "...Is this..."He was deathly afraid, but he steeled himself and pulled the bottle away to look at it. It was that! His most hated enemy! MILK! He immediately spat out the milk in his mouth into the conveniently placed drain and rounded on Winry, advancing on her, setting the milk on the counter.

"ARE YOU INSANE WOMAN?! HOW COULD YOU GIVE ME THAT DISGUSTING, PUTRID COW JUICE?! YOU KNOW I HATE MILK DAMN IT!" He didn't get any farther in his rant as Winry cut him off.

"I FIGURED YOU NEEDED IT YOU TINY LITTLE RUNT!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME GEAR HEAD?!"

"YOU HEARD ME SHORTY!"

"SHORTY?! WHY YOU, STUPID AUTOMAIL FREAK! ALWAYS GETTING SO WORKED UP OVER DUMB OLD AUTOMAIL!"

He was again cut off by Winry throwing the nearest object at him. Not her wrench, which she didn't have on her at the moment. The bottle of milk. It struck him square in the face, sending him to the ground, as it flew into the air, covering the golden-haired boy in what remained of its contents before smashing to pieces on the floor.

"..." Edward got up, fuming. Winry prepared herself for whatever he might try, but the boy simply growled and went to clean himself up. "Stupid automail freak... Milk... Hate her..." Could be heard in the muttering as he walked off, leaving Winry to stand there.

She stood there for a few minutes, before slamming her fist on the counter. "That bastard! I go to the trouble to get him food and he yells at me! So I got him milk, so what, he should be glad I made him food! Maybe I shouldn't, let him cook his own food." She was so busy fuming she didn't even realize what she was doing. Suddenly thirsty herself, she snatched the beaker of blue liquid off the counter and in one go, jugged the entire thing.

"Ehh?" She noticed the peculiar flavor, a sweet, fruity taste, though it couldn't be pinned to a single fruit, and had an odd, salty after-taste. It definitely didn't taste right. Suddenly, her head began to swim and she took a step backwards, setting the glass on the counter. "What was that...?" She thought, but after that she couldn't even peice together a coherent thought. She took a few steps back and ran into the couch, falling over onto it. Suddenly tired, she fell asleep.

...

Edward Elric emerged from the bathroom, fully dressed and healthy looking once more. The only thing giving away his tiredness is the bags still under his eye as he makes his way to his room. Maybe he was a bit of a jerk. After all, she was nice enough to bring him food and she probably got the milk with good intentions, like his... admitted... shortness... He paused as he mentally yelled at himself for thinking that, before shaking his head.

He turned around and returned to the kitchen, remembering the mess and got the broom and dustpan, cleaning it up. After taking the time to do that, he noticed the room was empty. "I guess she left..." He let the sentence hang there as he just sighed, before noticing the now empty beaker, once filled with blue liquid. "..."

...1...

...2...

...3...

"DAMN IT!" He shouted this, grabbing at his hair when he realized the only viable option. He had a small panic attack, before calming down. "It's alright Ed, the potion shouldn't last too long, you didn't make it that strong. One hour, tops, what the hell could happen?" He asked himself as he made his way back to his room. He'll deal with Winry when he meets her later, if he does. He severely hopes she won't be getting into trouble.

As he enters his room, filled with alchemy notes and other things, he notices something on his bed that brings a blush to his cheeks. His eyes widen and he sucks in a breath. His heart skips a beat as he takes a step backwards, the door closing behind him as the intruder moved from his bed over to him, making him press up against the door. There, was Winry, wearing one of his shirts and a pair of his pants, her clothes on the floors. The blonde woman smiled at the blond man as she hugged him, her arms wrapping around his head, their faces inches away. "Edward! I've been waiting for you!"

Edward's entire body froze up, he didn't know what to do. His face was burning, his mind turned to mush and he couldn't form a cohesive sentence. So, his mind shut down and he began to speak the only thing he had completely and utterly memorized. "Titanium, barium, lithium, magnesium, potassium, boron, rodium, cobalt, osmium..." And on he went, naming the elements on the periodic table, his face so red it turned a whole new shade of red.

Winry tilted her head at him and sighed. "You're so weird Edward, dear." Edward almost yelped when she said dear, and did slightly when she smirked at him. "Oh well, I guess you're just my little weirdo." She looked down at her clothing and looked up at him. "So, do I look good in it?" Edward couldn't lie in his head, she did look good. Reeeaaaally good.

He could only make out a meek 'yes' in respond to her question making her smile again. "Yay! I like this, I think I'll start wearing your clothes." He didn't know why, but her exclaiming such a thing made his heart race even more. All of a sudden, Winry kissed him, making the boy's eyes snap open and causing his blush, if possible, to darken. The kiss was quick, but to him it was a lot longer than that. When she separated, he didn't know why, but he wanted to kiss her again. She smiled once more and walked over to his bed, patting the bed beside her. Edward tentatively walked over and sat beside her, and she giggled happily. "Edward, I wanted to talk to you about our relationship."

"Relationship?!" He asked, his voice squeaking. He was sweating by the bucket, he was sure, and still red as could be. His leg was shaking almost imperceptive and his heart was racing. 'The hell is wrong with me?!' He yelled inside his mind. 'This is wrong, this is all wrong! So WHY DO I LIKE IT SO MUCH?!'

"Yeah, I was thinking, maybe we can step it up a bit. Y'know, actually go out on dates and stuff, hang out at your house, stay up late doing all kinds of fun things." She put her hands to her cheeks and sighed while she no doubt was imagining all these occurrences, over-romanticizing each one. "I also want to make our status as boyfriend and girlfriend official for all to know! I love Edward Elric, I'll scream it to the world!"

"Winry, what the hell are you talking about?!" Finally gaining back what senses he had left, Ed shook his head and looked her right in the eye, confused. "We aren't a couple, not at all!"

"Well, do you like me?"

Ed fell silent. He thought about it, truly. He thought long and hard. He thought and thought, putting his chin in thumb and forefinger, seriously gauging that question. Did he like Winry? Of course he did! But... like that? Did he... love Winry? That was a hard question to answer, and his face began to heat up after long. Finally, he looked her in the eye as best he could, still blushing, and with all seriousness said, "Winry... I... I really think I do." And right after he said that, he nodded, sure of himself. He did. No denying it, he loved Winry, more than anyone else in this entire world. Well, besides Al. He took her hands in his, feeling the need to reinforce that feeling. "Winry Rockbell. I love you, with all my heart, I really do. I love the way you look, the way you laugh, everything about you is just perfect, even when you make me angry. I really love you."

Winry blinked at him for a moment, before her face turned red. "E-Edward... You really feel that way?"

Ed blinked as well, before catching sight of the wall clock. In the kitchen, when he estimated Winry had drank the potion, it had been 12:30. The clock on his wall just struck 1:31 when he looked. Winry had turned back... Right in time to hear his confession. His confusion turned to shock and embarrassment as he realized what had happened and he looked at Winry, who was still blushing, waiting for an answer. Oh well, might as well keep on the track he's making. "Yes. I really do feel that way. And... I'm sorry for how I acted earlier, it was out of line."

"Well... I can admit I was a bit out of line too, Ed, but I've got something more important to say." The seriousness of her tone made him look at her and he noticed the blush on her cheeks as she put her hands together, holding them between her legs, shifting around. "I... Well..." She suddenly took out a wrench she didn't have before and slammed it into his face, knocking to boy to the ground. "I LOVE YOU TOO YOU SHRIMP!" She yelled, running out quickly, out and away.

Edward laid on the floor and yelled after her, getting on his elbows and knees. "WHAT DID YOU-" he stopped short when he realized what she had admitted. He just lay there for a minute before chuckling. He flopped over on his back and laughed and laughed. He whispered, as he laid there, smiling. "I think I really do love that gear head."

**A.U.: HEY-O LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS, CHILDREN OF ALL AGES, FREAKS AND GEEKS, TROLL AND DERPS ALIKE! I'M BACK! *dun dun DUUUN; lightning flashes* AND READY TO WRITE ONCE MORE!**

**[1] It's been shown before that Alchehestry can still be used even when Alchemy is turned off, and since most of Amestris' alchemists use the portal of truth, a link is provided, and it can be argued that Edward could still do Alchehestry, even when he loses his portal of truth.**


	2. Happy Happy, Fullmetal!

**Summary: Ed is feeling really chipper today. This ought to be interesting.**

The day was like every other day, and the Fullmetal Alchemist woke up with a yawn. He looked over at his brother, the armored boy waiting patiently for him to awaken, and smiled. "Morning Al." Al looked up at him and would have smiled as well if he could.

"Morning Brother." Came the reply as Ed got up and went to the bathroom, brushing his teeth, fixing up his hair, the usual. By the time they left the apartment, Ed was still smiling and was even whistling. "You sure are happy today." Al observed Edward as they walked towards Central. He was glad to see his brother so happy, what with how depressed he normally is, and was genuinely intrigued.

"Well Al, my wonderful younger brother, I'm just in such a great mood." Ed replied, and his smile got larger. "I don't even know why myself, I just am!" He laughed at himself and Al laughed as well, happy for him. When they reached Central, they found Fuery carrying a leaning mountain of paper.

"Heya Fuery!" Ed greeted as he walked up to him, smiling. "Whatcha doing?"

"Huh? Oh, hey Ed." Fuery greeted. "Just bringing paperwork to the Colonel. Poor guy's got a lot, as you can see." The tower was threatening to topple over, and Fuery had to keep adjusting where he was standing to compensate, only just managing to keep the stack from falling over.

Ed reached up and grabbed some of the paperwork, splitting the paperwork evenly between them. "Let me help you with that."

Fuery smiled. "Thanks Ed. You're the best!"

"No problem man!" And with that, Ed began walking. Fuery stared after him, a bit surprised but happy with that all the same. Al laughed.

"Ed is... really happy today for some reason." Al said, and Fuery smiled at him.

"Well, good for him. I'm glad he can still find reasons to be happy instead of... well, y'know. " They kept walking and soon got to Mustang's office, with a dumbfounded Roy, a new stack of paperwork on his desk. The Colonel sat there, blinking, as Fuery put down the next half of the stack, and Al looked around for his brother. Finding his brother was not in the room, Al looked at Mustang.

"Hey Colonel. Where's Ed?" He asked. Mustang looked at him, still a bit surprised.

"Well, he apparently went to get me some coffee." When the boy looked at him, he continued, "he brought me this stack of paperwork all happy-go-lucky, and I thought he was intentionally trying to be annoying, so I told him to go fetch me some coffee while he's at it and... he did..." Roy explained. Al chuckled.

"He's in a great mood, apparently." Al replied. Roy scoffed.

"Obviously."

It was then Ed returned with a mug of coffee for Roy. "There you go Colonel! Here's the coffee you wanted." Roy blinked and took the coffee, still a bit surprised. He took an experimental sip, prepared for any kind of prank like if Ed were to have 'accidentally' put salt instead of sugar, or something of that nature, and was genuinely surprises when he tasted regular old coffee. In fact, it was just the way he liked it. He nodded, and smiled. "Ahh, thank you Edward." He then blinked. Those were three words he never expected to say. Edward noticed this and tilted his head, wondering why Roy seemed so blown away. 'It's just coffee, can't be that good.' He thinks.

Ed went around the rest of the day like this, fetching things for people, helping a lot of people out with stuff and just being a general nice guy. The people who knew him well were shocked to say the very least. Ed noticed this being shocked, and was confused. 'What's with everyone?' He wonders, unaware that the reason was fetching Havoc's lighter for him. He returned with the lighter and Havoc smiled. "Thanks man, you're the best!" Havoc lit up his cigarette and grinned. He didn't know why Ed was so helpful today, but he'll be damned if he wasn't going to take advantage of it. Ed had plenty to do that day, as many of the others felt the same. By the time he got done helping people, it was time to head home.

Not only was Ed in a good mood, but he was also feeling lucky. A rather beautiful girl was dealing with some heavy groceries and Ed insisted on helping her, and by the time they walked all the way to the girl's house they had set up a meeting for the next day at the library, as it turned out the girl was quite the bookworm. When she went in, Ed called out to her, waving. "All right, it's a date!" The girl waved back, blushing, and Mustang and Co toppled out of the corner in shock, they having been tailing Fullmetal because of how weird he was acting.

Ed looked over at them, looking a bit surprised before they high-tailed it, leaving him to be utterly confused. 'What the hell was that all about...?' He wondered. He shrugged and began walking home, when he bumped into a random man. The man, who had been carrying a small bundle of papers, dropped them The papers went everywhere, covering the sidewalk. The man growled. "Damn it!" He turned to Ed. "Hey, watch where you're going pipsqueak!"

Ed froze. He stood there for a second, before spinning around, and walking back over to the man. He then... bent over and helped pick up some of the papers. When they got them all he held out the ones he had picked up. "Sorry about that, I didn't see you there. Also, please don't call me short, I don't like it." The man took his papers back and added them to the bundle before walking away, grumbling. Ed sighed. "Well, I guess everyone can't be in a good mood today." He turned on his heels and returned to walking home.

Later on that day, Ed was happily cooking himself dinner when the door slammed open. "EDWARD ELRIC!" Edward turned to see Winry walk up to him, looking a little more than angry at the moment. She put him at wrench-point, causing the alchemist to raise his hands, fearing for his well-being. "WHAT THE HELL DID MISS HAWKEYE MEAN WHEN SHE SAID YOU GOT A DATE?!" Riza, although she hadn't been pursuing him herself, heard it from the Colonel, and she had reported it to Winry. Why? Well, Riza was a mature, responsible woman, but even she couldn't resist causing a little trouble for the young alchemist.

"I was just going to meet this girl I met today at the library tomorrow, that's all." Ed replied. "So what?"

"Is that all?!" Winry demanded.

"Yeah, it is." He then noticed something. "Wait, why the hell do you care if I get a date or not?" He was very much confused by Winry's behavior. Why IS she angry he has a date for tomorrow?

Winry didn't respond before going crimson."W-well, you see..." She struggled to try and think of an explanation, bumbling around with her speech, before simply hitting Ed with her wrench, knocking the poor boy to the ground before running out.

The alchemist got up and growled, feeling his cheek. What the hell was that?! He asked her a simple question! "Jeez!" He then looked to the heavens, grabbing at his head. "WHY IS EVERYONE ACTING SO STRANGE TODAY?!"


	3. Bad Dreams

Summary: Ed has a bad dream... A really bad dream...

It was a regular day in East City. The morning air was cool, the heat of the day not yet set in as the fullmetal pipsqueak awoke from his slumber, yawning. The room was a mess, filled with food, papers everywhere, Ed and Al having stayed up late for some alchemic research. Ed walked into the bathroom, removing his clothes and stepping into the shower. The warm water falling onto his face helped revive the sleepy alchemist as he thought about the alchemic research he and Al had done. 'None of it will help us get our bodies back.' Ed thought, as he scrubbed soap into his hair. 'But hey, we gotta try. I can't just sit here and let Alphonse start thinking that maybe we just can't...' His hands fell to his sides limply as he thought. "Yes... that is most certainly possible..." He said out loud, though he kept quiet. It most certainly was possible, that he and his brother could never get their bodies back, he'd be alright, but Alphonse... he'd never be able to feel warm, or cold. To taste any of the foods he liked, to feel the rain drops, falling onto his skin... To feel the warmth of another person...

He returned to washing himself, and soon he stepped out, grabbing a towel and drying himself off. It wasn't long before he emerged from the bathroom in only his pants, towel around his neck and refreshed. He put on a smile. Then it disappeared as he noticed something. Al wasn't in the room... He walked through the house; no sign of his brother anywhere. "Maybe he went out for a morning walk." Ed suggested to himself, and agreed with himself. He left the room (after he got dressed) and went out. He must have looked all around East City, but he found hide nor hair (figuratively, of course) of Alphonse. He sighed as he stopped walking. "Al..." He looked to the heavens. "WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

It may have been luck, or maybe God (or Truth) was trying to get him to shut up, but he noticed a bit of grey leave the edge of his vision. He looked and saw an alley. The chance was small, but he took it. he saw a grey leg, definitely. A metal grey leg as he rounded the corner into the dirty alley, and he ran after it. "Alphonse!" He was sure of it, and as he chased it, it was revealed more and more to absolutely be his brother. He finally got to the point where he saw all of his brother round the next corner. He ran after him, emerging on the other side. "Alright, enough games, I've-" His eyes widened at what he saw, his breath hitched in his throat and for a moment in time his heart stopped.

He was staring at Nina. Or... what had been left of her... after Scar had finished. The stench of death hit him like a physical force, knocking him back, making him retch and gag. He almost threw up right there. He stared at it... for who knows how long... Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years. He didn't know. Time was lost to him. He stared at it, incapable of looking away or passing out as his eyes began to sting with tears. Every. Single. Detail... Of what he saw that day was reintroduced to him. Finally, he turned and ran. He rounded the corner again and came to a wall. He stopped, and turned around. Another wall. He turned to the left. Wall. To the right. Another goddamn wall. He was trapped. The walls were closing in. He panicked, sat right in the middle as visions of him and Nina and Al playing ran through his mind. Them, laughing, having a great time, unable to know the horrors that were to follow. His eyes were running streams now, sobs wracked his body. His chest ached, he grabbed at it, digging his fingers into his flesh.

"Big brother!" He froze and looked up, and saw a door. The door was plain, and wooden. He got up, wiping his tears away as best he could, still sniffling. He for some reason felt he needed to walk through it. And he did. When he entered his current location, he noticed from the sound it must be raining.

"Let's go for it." Ed's eyes widened. He knew that voice... he knew exactly where he was. He was nearly blinded by a sudden yellow light, as he watched in horror as he and his brother made the biggest mistakes of their lives. They looked happy. They thought they might actually do this. He felt his heart rise into his throat as the light turned purple. Red lightning streaked across as he saw himself notice this. He watches as he has his leg taken, and his brother loses his entire body. "Al? Alphonse say something... Al no! Stay with me! Damn it! This wasn't supposed to happen!" It was. Ed knew that now. This was what would always happen. His younger self let out a cry of anguish. "What have I done..." He watches as he suffers, before seeing the thing emerge from the smoke. "Mom? Is that you?" His younger self then saw the hideous being and let out a cry of terror.

The scene faded.

Ed stood there. How could he do that? His brother had questioned him all along the way, he should have listened to Al... Now, because of him, his brother was without his own body, and he had lost his arm and his leg. He was so naïve, he thought alchemy was the answer to everything, that he could bring back his mother, he was so selfish. Al paid for it. He stood there. Staring out at nothing. "I'm pathetic... I got Al into this mess... because I couldn't accept mom was dead, I didn't want to live without her... I thought alchemy was the end-all solution to any problem. I was such an idiot..." He woke to his brother, standing over him, staring down at him. "Brother, are you okay? I saw you were freaking out and I came over..." He was asleep?... Right. It was all... a bad dream. He looked around. It seemed to be night-time, as it was totally pitch black. He could barely see his brothers face, and that was only thanks to the glowing eyes of his. "It's alright. I'm fine Al. It was just a bad dream." "You wanna talk about it?" "I'm fine, Al." And he went back to sleep. Least, he pretended to.

He heard his brother sigh as he walked back over to his own bed. He stared at the wall. He put out his right hand. His automail arm. He turned his hand into a fist, squeezing it tight. "I will... Even if it kills me, I will get your body back Al..." And with that, he somehow was able to get back to sleep. And he remembered his promise, from then on out. His first promise... and this one.


	4. Ling, how did you even?

**Summary: Ling causes a bit of mayhem, and hilarity insues.**

It was an average day in Central. People were going about their days, and it was one of those days where the people responsible for saving the country found it OK to slack off and pretend they weren't trying to do exactly that. The day was altogether average, before up came a mighty roar, shaking the very foundation of Central Command. Ling jumped out of the way as an explosion tore apart part of the hallway, and nearly singed the boy's eyebrows off. He smirked, knowing he'd be able to keep it up, and jumped when a snap was heard and an explosion soon followed. The people at Central sighed, wondering how Roy would try to play this off. However, when the person wearing the gloves came by, they were stunned.

She was a beautiful girl, her blonde hair worn in two pigtails and she wore your typical schoolgirl outfit, with leggings and her eyes were... golden. Odd thing was she had an... antenna. Oh my god, it's Edward Elric. When people realized this fact, the reactions were mixed. Some were absolutely stunned, others were laughing their asses off, others were amazed Edward could look so good as a girl and others made snide remarks as he ran past, one poofy-pants-wearing, squinty-eyed prince his one and only target as he snapped again, sending a wave of fire at Ling. Mustang sighed, with a black eye and missing his gloves. "I really hope they don't burn the place to the ground..." He had to hold back a comment and just stood there, fuming. Luckily, Lan Fan and Fu soon apprehended the two hooligans before they destroyed anything noteworthy. "They destroyed my stuff!" Shut up Fuery, nobody likes you. "Grrr..." Everyone stared as Fuery glared at the sky.

Nobody let Ed live this down, as he was called 'Miss Shorty' and 'little nymph' for days... And Ed never let Ling forget, planting his fist firmly into the prince's face every chance he got, bodyguards or no.


	5. Scar, Cats and Milk! Fun!

**I've let this thing rot away, and I bet all the original readers have fled to other, more dependable writers. If you're still here then I am so sorry for all the lost time. I've had… lots of stuff happening to me. And I'll probably never tell any of you guys because it's really freaking personal, so really all I can say is I've been missing for no proven reason and if you hate me for being so lazy that's fine, but… Ah, c'est la vie. Cats, Scar and Milk, eh? Let's see here…**

It was a boring night, in that tiny boring alley, by the tiny boring house, in the tiny boring village that most would not even know the name of. There was no war to be fought here, no battle to be won, not even a regular disturbance. This town was a peaceful little town in the East, but recently the peace was broken. None other than the scar-faced Ishvalan had made an appearance, spotted by several soldiers passing through the town. He slipped away from the soldiers, evading capture, but the red-eyed, dark-skinned killer had not gotten away unscathed.

He held his injured arm, the bleeding being somewhat stopped by the cloth he pressed to it, but he'd need to find someone to dress his wound at some time or another. He caught his breath as best he could, trying to get his breathing down to normal. He heard the telltale footsteps of an approaching soldier and pressed himself against the wall of the pitch-black alley. He listened carefully and soon the footsteps reached him. He breathed, his breaths shallow and as silently as he could be.

"He came this way, didn't he?" He heard one of the Amestrian soldiers call out, as they soon walked into the alley that contained their prey. It sounded like there was two… he could take them… but it'd make too much noise… He slowly drew his feet in and stuck to the blackness, knowing that the soldiers tended to be quite poor at detecting him. Sure enough, the two pairs of footsteps came, and left. Scar breathed a sigh of relief, and clutched his arm. Before he could get up he noticed a cat, sitting there staring at him, it's tail swaying to and fro. It stared intently at him and he froze up for no apparent reason. It was just a cat.

Edward Elric, State Alchemist of only 15. To most it was impressive, and it seemed like he should be proud of such a feat. And yet… now that he knew of the truth about why they recruited State Alchemists, really, Edward no longer felt proud of it, if he ever did. Stuck as a dog of the military at such a young age was one thing, but their leader being a homunculus… The whole country being the product of their influence… His best friend… the girl he... loved… being held captive…

His musings were interrupted by the yells of… was that Scar? The golden-eyed pipsqueak watched as none other than Scar, the bloodthirsty killer turned temporary ally… chasing a small cat down the road. "Come here little cat!" He called after it, the small orange animal scared for its freaking life, it seemed. Edward's mouth stuck open for a second there, the only sound coming out a confused 'eeeeeh?' type of noise. Indeed… the world was coming to an end.

He looked into his hands, seeing the flask of white liquid before him. Winry had told him that he would remain short forever if he didn't drink it, but he would never drink the disgusting cow juice. But since the world was ending… His entire arm shook with terror; he gulped as he watched the white, putrid liquid he so despised slosh around. He lifted the container of milk to his lips and clenched his eyes shut, downing it in one gulp to stop from having to torture himself. After he swallowed it, forcing himself not to spit it up, he opened his eyes and looked down at the ground. He had known. He didn't want to face the truth, but it was the only thing he could think. It. Wasn't. Half. Bad.

Scar continued to pursue his prey. The cat was agile and quick, dodging his lunges at every turn. There was no way he'd catch it by just chasing it… He saw as the cat began trying to climb a piece of wood up to a roof, and he found his chance. He touched the wood, and it was reduced to splinters by his destructive right arm. The cat was left in thin air and quickly began to fall, yowling, and Scar caught it, but not for long. The cat flipped its shit, and scratched the hell out of the Ishvalan. Unprepared, Scar dropped the feline and watched as it scrambled away.

He growled as his being fooled and ran after the cat once more, before it leaped into the arms of an old woman, doing god-knows-what out in the middle of the night. Scar exclaimed slightly at her sudden appearance. She looked at him and blinked. "You're that Scar fella, ain'tcha?" Before he could respond, she walked over and looked at his arm, seeing the blood, and the bloody rag Scar had in one of his hands. She studied him. "Oh my; you're hurt. My husband and I are doctors. We'll get you fixed up, don't you worry."

Before Scar could even begin to protest the woman dragged him away, and he could only hope that after they bandaged him that they wouldn't turn him in.

Scar stood in the house of the old couple, his arm bandaged around his bullet wound. He held a small handful of cenz, the couple refusing to take the money. They had said that they were retired and wouldn't charge him for this, and so he stopped arguing and accepted it. He returned the cenz to his pocket and saw the cat from before sitting before him. He leaned down and patted its head as gently as he could. The cat mewed lightly and rubbed its head against his palm.

The woman walked into the room a bit later to find Scar kneeling by the cat, which now had a small dish of milk in front of it and the cat drank greedily. "I took the liberty of giving your cat some milk. I hope that was alright." The woman smiled, "oh it's fine. He needed a treat anyways, luring you here." Scar looked up at the woman. "Luring me?" The woman nodded. "Why else would you chase after her? She wanted you to follow. Besides, Mary would have gotten away if she weren't. She's the quickest feline there is."

Scar said nothing for a moment, but scratched under Mary's chin, the orange cat mewing its pleasure at the experience. "Is she…?" He again tried to pick up the cat and this time she did not resist. In fact, Mary climbed up enough to lick at his face, the Ishvalan not seeming pleased with this. The old woman laughed heartily at the display the 'cold-blooded killer' was giving her. She walked over and scratched behind the cat's ears, the cat mewing more. "That's how I knew you weren't a bad man, truly… Mary is a good judge of character and she is absolutely enamored with you."

Scar pet the cat a bit roughly, the poor feline being a bit uncomfortable but not angered. Scar looked at the woman and she placed a hand on his arm, growing serious. "Look young man… Whatever reason it is that you're doing what you're doing, killing state alchemists and all, it won't solve anything. Killing people is only going to make people angry and then they gonna start killing people and it's just gonna keep happening." Scar listened to her as she said this and reflected upon his deeds. What his lust for vengeance had led him to do.

"I agree… I will not solve anything by killing the men of the country that so wronged my own. I realize this now. So I'm not going to kill anyone anymore, I'm going to change this country for the better. I'm going to fix the darkness that has plagued this land." The woman now listened to him and smiled, nodding. "I think that's a better goal than killing everybody. It's better to destroy the evil but not the man. For if you destroy the man, you are no better than the evil that made the man that way." Scar nodded, and fell silent.

A few days passed with nothing really happening, before Scar walked out of the house, finished with his business there. On his way out he saw Edward Elric walking down the street in his direction, and when he passed Scar began walking beside him. Edward looked to the side at him, not really worried since there was rarely anyone in this part of town, just old geezers who didn't want to be bothered with anything going on outside their homes, and the soldiers had already assumed he got away, so they were in the clear. "Hey Scar, what are you doing here? You could get seen and I'm not going to bust you out of jail."

"Nothing Elric, I was forcefully subdued and scolded by a woman and her cat." Scar said, as if it were the most normal sentence in the world. Edward watched him go and let out several 'eeeehhhhhh?' sounds, similar to yesterday, shock and surprise on his face. "…And her cat?" Edward repeated, raising an eyebrow. "This Ishvalan really is crazy…" He remembered drinking the milk earlier and his face went green. "Stupid putrid cow juice…" he groaned, grabbing at his stomach, which rumbled in displeasure. Winry really should have made sure that the milk hadn't spoiled…


	6. If You Give a Midget a Glass of Milk

_**If You Give a Midget a Glass of Milk**_

He'll shove it down your fucking throat!~

**A.N. : Just a little prank chapter, the next one will be up soon... I hope. I'm having problems with writing in general...**


	7. Daddy's Little Girl

**Warning: Story is not for extremely young children. Nothing too bad, just some drug references and all that crap...**

The girl was Amestrian, there was no doubt about that. She wore dirty and revealing clothing, leaving little to the imagination, and this showed that she was developing quite nicely, and looked a bit too... developed for someone so young. But indeed she was and the girl punched her boyfriend lightly in the arm, the man laughing and continuing to smoke. "C'mon, don't hog all of it!" The girl pleaded, clinging to the man too old for her to be dating, but she could care less.

"I'm almost done, girl, let me finish." The girl huffed and gave up, watching him take a few more puffs of the concoction before passing it to her. It would never make it to her hand. The man's hand burst aflame and the drugs were scorched to hell, along with most of the skin. The smell of charred flesh filled the air, the man screaming, bringing his hand to him. Another man stepped from the shadows, and grabbed the girl by the arm, dragging her away as she fought to get away from him. He dragged her out of the alley and to a intersection that nobody really passed; a perfect place to hide and do something wrong.

"Stop, let go! Just LET GO!" She screamed, finally ripping away. Before she could run the man grabbed her by the shoulders, staring into her eyes, that look that always got to her. Like when she was a kid doing something bad, she averted her eyes after a minute or two of a staring contest, and the man sighed. "..." He stepped back and with the full force he had slapped the girl across the face. The strong blow sent the young woman sprawling and before she could get up the man wrenched her up, pinning her against the wall, forearm to her neck.

"Did you even think?! About what this could do to you, to your mother?! If it was anyone other than me, you'd be on a one-way ticket to prison, and what then?!" The man yelled, and the girl was frightened, her legs shaking. "I can't believe you're that little girl I used to know... Brigadier General-"

"-Brigadier General Hughes is dead! My dad went and got himself killed, so why should I give a fuck about what he would think?!" The man slapped her again and grabbed her chin with one hand, the force of the action knocking her head against the wall.

"Because he loved you... You were the only thing he would talk about at the station, we couldn't get him to shut up about his daughter, his little angel... He'd be heartbroken to know his little angel is doing drugs and dating a man twice her age! You never come home, Gracia is worried sick about you!"

"I can take care of myself, asshole." The girl wrenched free of his grip once more and the man growled. "How many times have you done that?"

"This was the first..." She confessed. "He'd never let me before..."

"Are you doing anything else...? Like... selling your..."

"I'm not some slut, dumbass! Let me go, I have to see if he's OK!" The man didn't let her though. "He's fine. I barely hurt him. YOU are going home to apologize to your mom and take a shower, you stink!" Without another word of argument from her, the girl was dragged by the hair to the man's car, and he drove off. Elicia gave him the silent treatment, pouting, glaring out the window. The man stared into it for a minute at her before sighing. When they got to Gracia's house he got out an so did Elicia, not bothering to try and run again.

Gracia looked up from her book as her daughter appeared, scantily dressed and dirty, maybe, but she was there. Instead of being angry, Gracia ran to Elicia and hugged her tightly, crying into the young girl's shoulder. Elicia was surprised at first, but the look shifted to sadness and guilt-ridden pain. The man didn't bother saying a word as the two women went off, and he crashed onto the nearby couch. He laid across the couch and found it quite comfortable. His hand fell on his exposed stomach, and he felt very tempted to fall asleep right there.

When Gracia came back and saw his state she sighed and smiled. "Still overworking you?"

"Half to death. Grumman isn't giving a single officer a chance to rest. Sorting out the Promised Day fiasco and what remains of the corruption in the government was bad enough, but one bar fight turns into fifteen and suddenly entire towns of people start causing an uproar, wanting proof that the world wasn't falling apart. 54 reported murders of Ishvalan citizens by Amestrian hands, exactly, in the last year. Even after so long, it sometimes seems like we haven't moved an inch from that wretched day... At least Ishval is close to being rebuilt, maybe getting them out will stem the outrage a bit, but still... It's going to take several generations to make this nothing more than a memory..." The man sighed.

Gracia walked over, sitting next to him. "Well, you and the other can at least pave the right way, and we'll have to pray that whoever takes the burden after you all can be so brave and kind." As he sat up to go she leaned on him. The man sighed and hugged her lightly. "You still miss Maes..."

"Of course... A few years and yet I still can't bring myself to even try and date... that man was the last for me..." She sat up and looked at him. The man smiled. "I'm sure you'll find someone else. Hughes would want it that way... For you to be happy..."

"I'm starting to get older... Not many men willing to have the likes of me, in my state... But I'll try, if you really think that's what he'd want..." Gracia got up and went over to the counter, starting on some breakfast since she was up. "So, why did you stay in the military? I thought when it all ended you'd quit... Then suddenly I'm hearing people talk about you."

The man sighed. "I don't know why... Probably the old man... Talked me back into the idea of making the world a better place, or something stupid like that... Long as I don't have to kill anyone, or take any stupid orders..." With that the blonde Amestrian got up and went to leave. "I better get home, Al's waiting after all."

"Don't call him old, Edward. I know you and Mustang don't always get along, but you should respect him as your elder." "That never stopped him from calling Grumman a crazy old geezer, why should it stop me?" Gracia sighed, and smiled. "Fair enough. Just give Alphonse a greeting from me, and... thank you again... for bringing Elicia back to me..."

"..." The man simply walked out the door, without another word. Gracia laughed a bit. "Without taking any stupid orders? Of course, you'd rather be the one to be giving the orders, wouldn't you? Colonel Elric... Feels odd to call him that... I remember when he hated being part of the military..." She walked back to Elicia's room and the girl looked at her. "Mom... Can I hear some stories about dad?" Gracia sighed after a moment and smiled. "Yes, Elicia. I'll tell you a million stories as long as you stay my little girl." Gracia sat next to Elicia and thought. "Well, one time, Major General Mustang told me about how your father kept bothering him with pictures of you and he nearly set the man on fire! But then-" As she told the story, Elicia listened. For a split second, she looked like she did way back then, when her father would tell her stories about what was happening at work. Gracia smiled, as she told the story, and soon both mother and child fell asleep together.


End file.
